Credit: Sky News
Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday night that he was ready to leave the territory to Russia to end the war for the first time.
The president of Ukraine said that his country could temporarily give up the country in exchange for a “Nato umbrella” over the territory that Ukraine still holds.
He added that after agreeing to a ceasefire, Kyiv could “negotiate” negotiations on the return of the eastern territory that is currently under Russian control.
“If we want to stop the heat wave of the war, we have to take the ground [the] Nato is an umbrella for the Ukrainian territory that we have under our control,” Zelensky said in an interview with Sky News.
“That’s what we need to do as soon as possible, and then Ukraine can get back some part of its territory,” he added.
The view represents a major change in his position. Kyiv has previously said it will continue to fight Russia until Ukraine is returned to its internationally recognized borders, which include the four regions seized by Vladimir Putin in 2022, as well as Crimea.
The change comes as Donald Trump prepares to take office with a promise to end the war on “day one”. Meanwhile, support for the peace deal is also increasing among European allies.
Under the plans pushed by Mr Trump’s team, the peace deal would see the front line halted, and Ukraine agreeing to suspend its ambitions to join NATO for 20 years. If agreed, the US would bombard Ukraine with weapons to prevent future Russian aggression.
The position of the Ukrainian president has changed as Donald Trump prepares to take office
Zelensky said in his interview that a “NATO umbrella” would not be full NATO membership, something Putin has rejected as part of the peace deal.
But, it could mean the member states of Nato, including Britain, the US, France and Germany, to provide security guarantees to Ukraine.
Asked in an interview whether Kyiv would be willing to give up space to Moscow for full NATO membership, he said: “No one has offered us to be in NATO with one part or another part of Ukraine.”
He added that “it may happen, but no one has given”.
He later said that he would be willing to consider leaving the Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine in exchange for the free areas of Ukraine to be brought under the “Nato umbrella”.
Trump’s inauguration on January 20 is expected to speed up negotiations to end the war.
Mr. Trump is believed to be considering a plan that will call for European and British forces to reinforce the 800-kilometer zone between the Russian and Ukrainian forces as a plan to end the war.
Speaking to The Telegraph this week, Boris Johnson, the former prime minister, said Britain’s military should help protect the Ukrainian border as part of a peace deal.
They said that any responsibility for maintaining the ceasefire line between Ukraine and Russia should be given to a multinational European peacekeeping force.
“I don’t think we should send the military to take over the Russians,” he told the Telegraph’s Ukraine: The Current podcast.
“But I think as part of the solution, as part of the end, you will need to have a multinational European peacekeeping force monitoring the border. [and] to help Ukrainians.
“I don’t see how such a European operation can happen without the British.”
Johnson said the West should clarify what security guarantees will be given to Ukraine as part of any peace deal, to ensure that Russia cannot attack again after a few years.
Zelensky switched to English in the last part of his interview and said that other countries had illegally proposed a ceasefire agreement between Ukraine and Russia.
“Many different countries have proposed a ceasefire,” he said. “The question is, where to stop the gun?”
He went on to say that if a ceasefire is agreed, it must guarantee “that Putin will not come back”.
“We love [Nato protection] more, if not more [Putin] he will come back. Otherwise, how are we going to stop the fighting? So for us, it’s dangerous.”
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